murphy's law*?

i read with a great dose of empathy, an article in today's edition of tabla (a weekly free tabloid) about a family's ordeal being struck by stroke and stuck in singapore.

mr jaswal and his wife from india arrived in singapore on november 23, 2011 to celebrate their 27th wedding anniversary.

but on november 25, 2011, mr jaswal suffered a stroke and has been in the intensive care unit of the neruosurgery ward in the singapore general hospital since.

the hospital bill has already chalked up a whopping $42,000 and the jaswal's only child, 25 year old ms svaneel arrived in singapore on november 26, 2011 carrying whatever money she could arrange. and what's worst is that mother and daughter have spent the last 21 days in the corridors of the hospital because they have no relatives or friends in our tiny red dot nation.

and thank God, mr jaswal's condition has improved and the family wants to move him back to india but the cost is highly prohibitive, at $35,000 with a doctor and nurse accompanying him.

*murphy's law states that if anything can go wrong, it will go wrong and at the worst possible time.

my comments:

as a financial planner, my advice is that one of the most important items in planning for any holiday, whether near or far away is your ubiquitious travel insurance.

and because this is probably the lowest priced component of a vacation, it is something that is so invaluable and yet brings peace of mind.

it is truly unfortunate that the jaswals' travel arrangements were made through an agent who never mentioned anything about insurance.

if mr jaswal does not have any pre-existing medical condition, i believe a travel insurance policy will have coverage for many benefits including medical expenses incurred overseas and medical evacuation and repatriation.

lest u look down on the humble travel insurance policy because premiums are really affordable, i heard from an insurer that the highest claim paid for a travel policy was for emergencxy medical evacuation and repatriation from latin america (back to singapore) and the bill amounted to a staggering us$750,000.

and last but not least, my thoughts and prayers are with the jaswal family that everything will work out well for them.